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Questions (and Answers) on the Semantic Web

W3C and the Semantic Web, June 20, 2005, Wien, Austria

Ivan Herman, W3C

Questions (and Answers) on the Semantic Web

Image of Wien

Slides of the presentation given at the of the W3C and the Semantic Web meeting in Vienna, Austria, on the 20th of June, 2005. The meeting is jointly organized by the W3C Office for Germany and Austria, the Austrian Association for Research in IT (AARIT), and the Austrian Computer Society.

(If your browser has proper implementation of the object element of XHTML (e.g., Mozilla’s Firefox) and you have a SVG plugin installed, you might want to use the same slideset using SVG. Some of the images may have added interaction and they also rescale better…)

Table of Contents:

  1. [No title]
  2. So…
  3. Well, Let Me Help You…
  4. [No title]
  5. NO!!!
  6. RDF (Resource Description Framework)
  7. OWL (Web Ontology Language)
  8. OWL and Logic
  9. Some things are missing
  10. But AI is more…
  11. [No title]
  12. The “Web” is in the URI-s!
  13. Related Question…
  14. [No title]
  15. RDF is a graph!
  16. A Simple RDF Example
  17. RDF/XML has its Problems
  18. Other Encoding Examples…
  19. [No title]
  20. It Depends…
  21. What Merge Can Do...
  22. RDF’s Force is its Flexibility
  23. Extra Bonus: OWL
  24. Finding New Relationships
  25. But... RDF Does Not Make XML Obsolete!
  26. [No title]
  27. It May Be a Problem, But…
  28. You Can Also Choose
  29. [No title]
  30. It May Be Around Already…
  31. RDF Can Also Be Generated
  32. Ontology Developement
  33. [No title]
  34. Not Any More…
  35. Lots of Tools
  36. SW Applications
  37. Dublin Core
  38. Data integration
  39. Oracle's Network Data Model
  40. Vodaphone's Live Mobile Portal
  41. Sun's SwordFish
  42. IBM – Life Sciences and Semantic Web
  43. Adobe's XMP
  44. [No title]
  45. SW and WS are Complementary
  46. Examples for Potential Synergies
  47. Examples for Potential Synergies (cont)
  48. SW-WS Synergy Example
  49. Convergence (at W3C and Elsewhere)
  50. [No title]
  51. Not Yet…
  52. Querying RDF Graphs
  53. Simple SPARQL Example
  54. Other SPARQL Features
  55. SPARQL Usage in Practice
  56. Rules
  57. W3C’s Rules Workshop
  58. Trust
  59. A Number of Other Issues…
  60. [No title]
  61. Now For Real…

So…

Questions?

Well, Let Me Help You…

Some questions come up regularly, so I collected them…

  1. Is the Semantic Web AI on the Web?
  2. Where is the “Web” in SW?
  3. Isn’t the RDF Model way too complex?
  4. Why should I use RDF?
  5. With huge ontologies on the Web, does this scale?
  6. Where does the metadata and ontologies come from?
  7. Isn't This Research Only?
  8. Does SW Replace Web Services?
  9. Are we done?

Is the Semantic Web AI on the Web?

NO!!!

RDF (Resource Description Framework)

OWL (Web Ontology Language)

OWL refines the usage of RDF by:

(to be precise: these are done by RDFS+OWL)

OWL and Logic

Some things are missing

But AI is more…

Where is the “Web” in SW?

The “Web” is in the URI-s!

Related Question…

Isn’t the RDF Model way too complex?

(look how complex RDF/XML is …)

RDF is a graph!

A Simple RDF Example

A small RDF graph with three statements, followed by an RDF/XML encoding thereof

RDF/XML has its Problems

Other Encoding Examples…

    :object :pred [:pred2 :val1; :pred3 :val2; ]
    <triple>
        <subject uri="..."/>
        <predicate uri="..."/>
        <object>A Literal</object>
    </triple>
    Class(animate)
    Class(animateMotion)
    Class(animationEntity complete 
        unionOf(animate animateMotion …)
    )

Why should I use RDF?

(Couldn’t I simply use XML with XML Schema instead?)

(or: Couldn’t I simply use a relational database instead?)

It Depends…

What Merge Can Do...

Example of merge with an SVG description graph, my own social network, and publication data

RDF’s Force is its Flexibility

Extra Bonus: OWL

Finding New Relationships

But... RDF Does Not Make XML Obsolete!

With huge ontologies on the Web, does this scale?

It May Be a Problem, But…

You Can Also Choose

Where does the metadata and ontologies come from?

(Should we really expect the author to type in all this metadata?)

It May Be Around Already…

RDF Can Also Be Generated

 <span property="dc:date">March 23, 2004</span>
 <span property="dc:title">High-tech rollers hit casino for £1.3m</span>
 By <span property="dc:creator">Steve Bird</span> …
				

Ontology Developement

Isn't This Research Only?

(or: does this have any industrial relevance whatsoever?)

Not Any More…

Lots of Tools

SW Applications

Dublin Core

Dublin Core Registry Application dump

Data integration

MuseoSuomi Application dump

Oracle's Network Data Model

Vodaphone's Live Mobile Portal

Vodaphone screen dump

Sun's SwordFish

IBM – Life Sciences and Semantic Web

Adobe's XMP

XMP Application dump

Does the SW Replace Web Services?

SW and WS are Complementary

Examples for Potential Synergies

Examples for Potential Synergies (cont)

SW-WS Synergy Example

Baby CareLink
  • centre of information for the treatment of premature babies
  • provides an OWL service as a Web Service
    • combines disparate vocabularies like medical, insurance, etc
    • users can add new entries to ontologies
    • complex questions can be asked through the service
XMP Application dump

Convergence (at W3C and Elsewhere)

Are we done?

Not Yet…

Querying RDF Graphs

Simple SPARQL Example

   SELECT ?cat ?val
   WHERE { ?x rdf:value ?val. ?x category ?cat }
A simple RDF Graph, with some matching patterns highlighted

Other SPARQL Features

SPARQL Usage in Practice

Rules

W3C’s Rules Workshop

Trust

A Number of Other Issues…

These slides (with links)
http://www.w3.org/2005/Talks/0620-Wien-IH/
Mail me:
ivan@w3.org

Now For Real…

Other Questions?